Existing User

Why has Kai Althoff's music been included in exhibitions of his
art? There doesn't seem to be any way in which his recorded work
passes as audio art, in the ways in which audio art has become a
familiar genre in the last decade. It's not site-specific, and it
just as easily could be listened to at home as well as - or perhaps
even better than - in a museum. All of the examples of Kai
Althoff's music that appeared in the exhibition at the Institute of
Contemporary Art, in Boston, 'Kai Kein Respekt' ('Kai No Respect',
2004), were commercially available. Even works produced in
relatively small editions sold for a typical list price. At the
time of the ICA Boston exhibition, his solo LP Fanal
(produced in an edition of 500 by Galerie Neu, Berlin in 2003) was
still available. As was the album Engelhardt/Seef/Davis
(1996), listed in the catalogue as existing in an edition of 50. A
little research revealed that it was still available at its €15
list price from a distributor in the Netherlands.

The point is that it's not difficult to find these recordings,
meaning they exist in various listening contexts. It's available in
the museum, yes, but it's also in record stores, online and so
forth. Like the artist's music itself, its dissemination is
resolutely unfussy.

Workshop is Althoff's long-running project with Stephan Abry and
a cast of occasional conspirators. The idea for the group dates
back to the beginning of their teens. The name 'Workshop' was
chosen in homage to the Children's Television Workshop, the
production group responsible for Sesame Street. From their
records alone - especially the

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